This year marked the 70th anniversary of the CTV Lion’s Children’s Christmas Telethon. It’s organized every year by CTV Northern Ontario to raise money for children’s toys. Since its humble beginning, millions of dollars have been raised for families who need help around the holidays.
It started in 1949 when a group of Christmas carollers in Sudbury were able to raise $800 for the Salvation Army. By 1951 this initiative helped over 300 children and debuted on stage and radio.
The event first aired on TV in 1953 and, with only 80 television sets in town, a total of $2000 dollars was raised. Now a holiday tradition, the telethon features the region’s best musicians and up-and-coming talents. The show is broadcast and live streamed while hundreds of volunteers answer the phones to collect pledges.
For the milestone anniversary, Laura Canada dressed Marina Moore, Rebecca Nobrega, Jessica Gosselin, Lyndsay Moggy, Chelsea Papineau and Trinette Atkinson in Laura and Melanie Lyne designs.
Because of the generosity of so many people, over 16,000 children opened gifts on Christmas Day. The goal of $280,000 was surpassed by $65,000.
